Resolutions - not just for New Years anymore

This was originally written on January 2, 2008

2007 was a great and interesting year. Many happenings happened, which may be good content for another post, but not this one. This one will contain some of the happenings which happened on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day of 2008.

We had a fun New Year's Eve, in which we planned very little, but the fates worked in such a way to make it a very fun eve indeed. We were pretty much tired of most of the DVDs we owned or had access to, so while we were attempting to decide which "four-year-old friendly" one would bother us the least,  my sister Carmela called and asked if she and her daughter, Neytiri might come by and hang out for a while. We were delighted and spent a charming evening in front of the fire eating popcorn, watching Buzz and Neytiri play together with toys and one of the most exciting rounds of Candyland ever played. The kids were then treated with readings of Beatrix Potter's "Johnny Town-mouse" and "The Pie and the Patty Pan." Buzz was allowed to stay up past his bed time, but luckily he did go to sleep while it was still 2007.

Buzz was very excited on the morning of the new year to go see a movie as we had promised. We were going to go see either "Enchanted" which is still in the first run theaters at $5.00 a ticket, or "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" which was playing at the dollar theater where tickets are 75 cents on Tuesdays. Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman are easily worth $0.75, but I wasn't so sure that Amy Adams, whoever she is (apparently an Oscar nominee), would be worth $5.00. Plus, in Magorium, you get to see a magical sock monkey, so that pretty much sealed the deal.

We all enjoyed the movie, except for Rocky, who conveniently slept through most of it. Afterward we went to Borders where we spent nearly 2 hours browsing and choosing what to get for Rocky and Buzz with their store credit. I am so glad to see how much Buzz loves books. He would find a book with lots of pictures, choose a spot on the floor, and turn through each of the pages, presumably making up a story to go with the pictures since he can't read yet. Then he would choose another book and repeat the process, or look at the kids' DVDs and toys with Lois and me.

After dinner at home, Buzz played with his new Toy Story action figures while Lois and I cleaned up. When we finished, Buzz looked up at me from his playing and asked, "Do you want to play with me?" This simple, yet fervent and sincere question is asked many, many times every day, and I wish I could say that it was always answered in the affirmative whenever possible. But on this happy occasion Buzz was not disappointed. Lois and Rocky joined us and we all had quite the lark.

Buzz had a little bit of trouble going to bed, so I sat with him for a little while and asked him what his favorite part of the day was. He said, "Playing with you." This was very touching to me, but I thought perhaps he only said that because it was the most recent activity, and maybe he forgot about the movie and the bookstore. "Was that more fun than the movie?" I asked. "Yep." "More fun than looking at books and movies at Borders?" Again, the reply was "Yep," with an enthusiastic nod of the head.

Now, I have long believed that New Year's resolutions were silly. If I need to resolve to do something, why not do it at the time it occurs to me, or more realistically, much later than the time it occurs to me but at a time when it is painfully evident that action is needed? If I make a New Year's resolution, when I break it on January 20th, I might be apt to abandon it altogether until the next new year. Now, it happens that January 1, 2008 was the date it became evident that I must resolve to play more with Buzz. Not necessarily spend more time with him... I am certain the quantity of time I spend with Buzz is appropriate. But not enough of that time is spent playing with toys. When Buzz asks, "Will you play with me," I resolve to find fewer excuses to avoid it, and more excuses to avoid doing whatever would prevent me from playing. And should I relapse into former habits, I can immediately resolve again even if it is March 19th.

Happy New Year, everyone!